Chapter 243: The Emperor’s Overbearing Aura
At the entrance of Peach Blossom Village.
Village Chief Gu led the charge, spitting venomous words at the shameless group. Behind him stood a group of women from Peach Blossom Village, followed by the men.
There was no helping it. Not all men possessed Village Chief Gu’s ability to single-handedly out-curse an entire village. That was a skill usually more common among women.
So whenever Peach Blossom Village clashed with another village, it was always Village Chief Gu leading a group of women as the vanguard, engaging in a war of words. The men would stand behind, only stepping forward when the verbal battle escalated into a physical one.
Village Chief Gu stood with one hand on his hip, pointing a finger at the villagers of Plum Blossom Village and cursing, “Bah! You ungrateful, opportunistic scoundrels! Before, you scorned Xingnong for ruining your village’s reputation, and now that she’s wealthy, you want to take her back to bask in her glory? Don’t even dream of it! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re scheming, you snobs. Absolutely shameless!”
“Get lost! You treated her like a stray cat or dog, insulting, cursing, and driving her away when she was poor. Now she’s rich, and you’re clinging to her like rabid dogs! I’ve never seen such shameless people!”
The village chief of Plum Blossom Village and Shen Wanshan had been speaking to the people of Peach Blossom Village with civility, but after being met with nothing but sarcasm for a long time, the people of Plum Blossom Village finally lost their patience.
Aunt Li of Plum Blossom Village shouted, “We want to see Xingnong! Xingnong belongs to our Plum Blossom Village! Who do you think you are, stopping us from taking her back?!”
“That’s right! Xingnong was originally from our Plum Blossom Village! Why can’t we take her back? You’re stopping Xingnong from acknowledging her ancestry, aren’t you just doing it because she’s the Crown Princess? You’re just trying to curry favor with her! Bah! Don’t pretend to be noble! You have the nerve to say that to us? You’re the ones wagging your tails at Xingnong like dogs!”
“In terms of kinship, we, Plum Blossom Village, are Xingnong’s paternal clan. You’re just her maternal family. What are your intentions in stopping Xingnong from acknowledging her ancestry? Don’t you just want to use Xingnong as a money tree, a cash cow to make money for you refugees of Peach Blossom Village?”
“Exactly! Without Xingnong putting up all that silver to set up workshops, you’d still be refugees, struggling to even get three meals a day! You want to keep Xingnong all to yourselves, preventing her from acknowledging her ancestry. Without the support of her clan, who knows if she’ll even be able to hold onto her position as Crown Princess! You people are the shameless ones!”
Seeing that everyone had said their piece, Shen Wanshan finally spoke, “Madam Gu is my second brother’s wife, a daughter-in-law of our Shen family. Those children, Xingnong, Xingqing, and Xinghui, all have the surname Shen. Chongshan died for our country. You people of Peach Blossom Village tricked them away. Who will carry on Chongshan’s lineage in the future? Besides, Xingnong is now the Crown Princess. She was originally a child of unknown paternity. Without the support of her clan, she’ll be looked down upon when she goes to the capital!”
Village Chief Gu laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke ever. So did everyone else in the village!
They were just about to retort that Xingnong did have a clan to rely on – the entire Peach Blossom Village was her clan!
But before anyone could speak, a cold, authoritative voice cut in, “I am her support!”
The voice, accustomed to giving orders, was so penetrating and commanding that it instantly silenced the noisy crowd.
Everyone looked up or turned to see him.
The Jin Kingdom Emperor strode over, his face indifferent as he swept his gaze over the crowd. He possessed an innate aura of dominance.
These were the commoners who dared to bully his precious princess?
The Jin Kingdom Emperor spoke calmly, “Before I settle the score with you, get lost! Don’t ever appear before Xingnong and her daughters again, or else”
The Jin Kingdom Emperor gave the crowd a cold stare.
These commoners should be grateful they were in the Chu Kingdom, where he couldn’t deal with them as he pleased for the time being!
If they were in the Jin Kingdom, none of them would be alive!
Of course, even in the Chu Kingdom, if they dared to bully Xingnong and her daughters again, he had ways to crush them!
The Chu Kingdom Emperor wouldn’t dare refuse him this favor!
Under his gaze, the villagers of Plum Blossom Village lowered their heads in fear, feeling like ants beneath the feet of an emperor surveying his domain.
Although the Jin Kingdom Emperor didn’t finish his sentence, the villagers of Plum Blossom Village all felt that the unspoken words were terrifying!
If they dared to appear before Xingnong again, he could easily crush them like ants!
“Get lost!” The Jin Kingdom Emperor looked at the villagers of Plum Blossom Village with his domineering gaze, spitting out a single word with icy coldness.
The villagers of Plum Blossom Village instantly scattered like birds.
For some reason, they felt like that single word “Get lost!” carried the weight of “Behead!”
As if they would be beheaded if they took one step too slowly!
Village Chief Gu watched as the villagers of Plum Blossom Village left after the man had said less than five words!
He had just cursed for more than five hundred words!
And those shameless people from Plum Blossom Village hadn’t even budged!
Village Chief Gu rubbed his chin, starting to question his entire existence.
✿✿✿
He had an epiphany: Hmm, perhaps cursing wasn’t about quantity or speed, but about aura?
Excellent!
Next time, he would curse with aura!
One word to top a hundred!
Village Chief Gu walked up to the Jin Kingdom Emperor, his eyes sparkling with admiration. He stretched out his long arm to sling it over the Emperor’s shoulder, but realizing he wasn’t tall enough, he settled for patting the Emperor’s shoulder with his large hand. “Brother Shen, how did you cultivate such an imposing aura? How can you scare off an entire village with just one word?”
The other villagers of Peach Blossom Village also looked at the Jin Kingdom Emperor, eager to learn his secret.
He had been so incredibly domineering just now!
The Jin Kingdom Emperor said calmly, “You’ll learn it naturally after sitting on the Golden Throne for a while.”
Ignoring the crowd, the Jin Kingdom Emperor strode away.
He was thinking about how to persuade Shen Ruoxi to return to the Jin Kingdom with him and marry him!
Village Chief Gu: “…”
The villagers of Peach Blossom Village: “…”
Aunt Lei voiced the curiosity in everyone’s hearts, “What is the Golden Throne? Is it the place where they enshrine the Great Buddha in that temple?”
The villagers occasionally went to the temple to worship Buddha, where there would be a hall specifically for enshrining the Great Buddha.
Everyone looked at Village Chief Gu.
Village Chief Gu came back to his senses and shook his head. “The Golden Throne is the place where the Emperor ascends the throne.”
The villagers: “…”
After a while, a villager shook his head. “Master Shen is just bragging!”
Everyone nodded in agreement. “That’s right! If I had the chance to sit on the Golden Throne, I wouldn’t even need to speak. Just one look would send those Plum Blossom Village villagers running!”
“But that Master Shen is still quite impressive. Not everyone can open such a big restaurant. Perhaps he developed that aura from managing so many people!”
The villagers of Plum Blossom Village had been scared off without even catching a glimpse of Xingnong.
Xingnong was halfway there when she saw the Jin Kingdom Emperor carrying two buckets of water on a shoulder pole.
Seeing Xingnong, the Jin Kingdom Emperor said happily, “It’s fine! I chased them all away! You used all the water in the tank to water the vegetables, right? I’ll go fetch some more water.”
Hearing this, Xingnong didn’t bother with it and turned back to her room to write her storybook.
But she hadn’t been writing for long when Gu Ping and Zhou Jingjin came knocking.
“Xingnong, you have to save your cousin!”
